Another cool opportunity to learn about Navajo culture came when our group was able to visit a traditional weaver. This sweet old woman does everything by hand and took the time to walk us through each step.
Step 1: Run the wool through the carding combs several times to clean and soften it. The wool was passed around to touch and smell. Surprise, surprise, it smelled like sheep.
Step two: Spin the wool on the spindle to make huge balls of yarn.
Step three: Use wild plants like rabbit brush, sumac, cliffrose, and juniper to naturally dye the yarn different colors
Step four: (and here she kindly let anyone in our group who was interested jump in...) Start weaving the yarn through the loom strings. The pattern she creates is totally unique each time. No two Navajo rugs are ever alike because each yarn strand is placed based completely on what the weaver feels.
She said she weaves mostly to make gifts for people. One of her favorite things to do is weave names into her designs. Dave and Phil were laughing about how she'd weave our last name into a rug!
Step five: Push each strand down with the combs. These combs belonged to our weaver's mother.
As a mom and leader on this trip, it was stuff like this that made me smile. What a cultural experience for these kids! The appreciation that comes from doing something like this. And how to cool to be able to say that they've tried weaving on an authentic Navajo loom with an instructor who has had this art form in her family for generations!
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